Cal's Cade Uluave Still Questionable; Aaron Hampton Ready in Reserve

We won’t know for sure whether linebacker Cade Uluave — possibly Cal’s best player — will be healthy enough to face No. 14 Louisville until the Bears’ injury report comes out on Thursday evening.

But coach Justin Wilcox stopped short of ruling him out on Tuesday, which suggests the junior from South Jordan, Utah may be able to play in Saturday evening's ACC road game.

“Day to day,” Wilcox said. “He’s active out there. We’ll see how it goes throughout the week.”

Wilcox declined to specify the nature of Uluave’s injury, thought to be something related to his hand or wrist.

Uluave left last Saturday’s game against Virginia during the first defensive series. A week earlier, he had a career-high 19 tackles in the loss at Virginia Tech, moving him into the ACC lead for total tackles.

“There’s not a player on our team that can step in and be Cade. There’s just not,” Wilcox said.

But former walk-on Aaron Hampton, who came on as a replacement for his ailing teammate, was effective enough that cornerback Paco Austin didn’t immediately realize Uluave was on the sidelines.

“Aaron had like 15 tackles . . . it’s crazy,” Austin said.” I didn’t even know Cade was out of the game . . . you couldn’t really tell the difference. I couldn’t tell the difference. Aaron flying around, making calls, being physical, tackling everybody. I’m really proud of Aaron.”

In fact, Hampton did have precisely 15 tackles, doubling his career total to 30, all but two of which came this season.

A 6-foot-1, 230-pounder from Anchorage, Alaska, Hampton arrived at Berkeley as a walk-on for the 2023 season and was redshirted. He saw action last year on special teams.

After Teddye Buchanan, the Bears’ leading tackler a year ago, was drafted into the NFL, the Bears went to the transfer portal last spring and landed two inside linebackers in Harrison Taggart (BYU) and Buom Jock (Colorado State).

Redshirt freshman Luke Ferrelli beat out both players for the starting spot opposite Uluave and is second on the team with 65 tackles. Taggart sees action as a reserve and Jock had two tackles in four games but is no longer on the team, a Cal spokesman confirmed.

Hampton kept working and when his opportunity arose on Saturday, he was ready.

“I’ve got a lot of belief in that kid. He is self-made, he’s highly competitive, he’s really tough. He’s got good instincts for the game,” Wilcox says in the video at the top of this story. “Again, they ran 80 plays so somebody’s got to tackle them. But Aaron showed up more than anybody else.

“There’s certain things he’ll have to do better. . . . But for him to step in there and be in that environment, his first extended action, I’m very proud of him. And I’ll expect him to continue to get better and he’ll expect that from himself.”

Wilcox said Hampton has earned the spot he has and will be the first off the bench if/when Uluave returns.

“Guys coming out of the transfer portal, whether they’re four stars and get scholarship or walk on from Alaska, whoever makes tackles is going to play more,” Wilcox said. “Aaron has earned the right to move up the depth chart.”

Wilcox said there are players faster Hampton, but he brings the most critical skill to the position he plays.

“At the linebacker position, the No. 1 redeeming quality for any linebacker is does he get to the ball and tackle,” Wilcox said. "Size helps, speed helps, arm length helps, quickness . . . all that stuff helps. If you have all that and you have the feel for the game and the instinct for the game and the toughness for the game, then you’re going to be elite.

"He finds the ball. He’s going to keep getting opportunities.”

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